Now our neighbors are pulling the emergency brake …
After the Netherlands recorded a record number of new corona infections on Thursday with 16,364 positive tests, a new lockdown is now coming.
The caretaker government of the Netherlands will decide on a partial lockdown on Friday, which should last three weeks, as sources told the news site “NOS”.
One of the measures would be that catering establishments and non-essential shops have to close at 7 p.m. In addition, it is recommended not to receive more than four non-household visitors in the apartment. The measures are due to take effect on Saturday at 7 p.m.
With a three-week lockdown, the cabinet would go further than the two weeks recommended by a panel of experts. For this, however, cinemas and theaters should probably remain open, contrary to the recommendation of the experts.
Sports events will also continue to be possible, but without spectators in the stands. This means that, among other things, the World Cup qualifier between the Netherlands and Norway will take place in an empty stadium on Tuesday evening.
In the meantime, the cabinet wants to anchor new measures, such as maintaining a distance of one and a half meters, into law and make them binding in the longer term. This still has to be regulated by law. The drafting of new laws and their treatment in the lower and upper houses takes about one to two weeks.
The Dutch Public Health Institute reported 16,364 positive tests in 24 hours on Thursday – 3,688 more than the previous day. It was the highest level since the pandemic began. In the Netherlands, more than 84 percent of the adult population are vaccinated against the virus.
Hospitals in the hardest-hit Dutch province of Limburg sounded the alarm this week in a letter to the Ministry of Health, warning of an impending blockade of the health care system and predicting that the looming emergency would spread to other regions of the country.